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Pete Dominick is Interviewed about Kimmel's Return; Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) is Interviewed about Trump's U.N. Message. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 24, 2025 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:52]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It's half past the hour, and here's what's happening right now.

There's a deadly typhoon pounding the coast of Taiwan. Nearly 2 million people in southern China have been evacuated. At least 15 people are dead, and rescuers are now scrambling to locate 17 others who are missing.

And the message this morning from the Trump administration to all those fired workers, maybe come back. The General Services Administration is rehiring hundreds of federal employees. They'd lost their jobs thanks to Elon Musk's DOGE cuts. They've been given until the end of the week to accept or decline that offer.

And President Trump pulls out of a planned meeting with Democratic congressional leaders. It was meant to discuss the looming government shutdown. The president said it wouldn't be productive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): It's clear they have decided to shut the government down.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): By refusing to even sit down with Democrats, Donald Trump is causing the shutdown. This is a Trump shutdown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Congress has just about a week left to vote before the government shuts down.

And after a brief suspension, Jimmy Kimmel came back last night to a standing ovation.

(VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And his much-anticipated opening monologue included a civics lesson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": I've had the opportunity to meet and spend time with comedians and talk show hosts from countries like Russia, countries in the Middle East, who tell me they would get thrown in prison for making fun of those in power, and worse than being thrown in prison. They know how lucky we are here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Kimmel's fans, gratified by his return and very much aware of the weight of the moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been to shows before, and, honestly, this one just felt different, but like in a way where people knew there was a gravity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't like -- like -- like -- like funny. It was like super emotional. It was a -- a clear statement to the politics, to the people out there and -- and to the -- to -- to the entire U.S.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:35:05]

CORNISH: All right, to talk more about this, comedian Pete Dominick joins us live from New York.

Good morning, Pete. Thanks for being with us.

PETE DOMINICK, FORMER WARM-UP COMIC FOR STEPHEN COLBERT: Great to be here, Audie.

CORNISH: Now, I know you were among those comics who have been out in the media defending Kimmel. Even on CNN. And what was it like to see him last night? Because it's a very high stakes moment.

DOMINICK: Triumphant. You know, we, as Jimmy said last night, it's important that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a talk show like this. And I've been doing this for 20 years, you know, running my mouth on stages, on TV, on radio. And I would defend anybody's right to do that, even if I don't like what they're saying. That's always been the standard, as you know, Audie, especially for comedians.

You know, we came up and we stand on the shoulders of people like George Carlin, who the FCC, obviously, went after. And Lenny Bruce. They were put in jail, Audie. So, it's important to recognize the history of comedy and free speech in this country.

So, last night was -- was really triumphant. And I have a feeling those stations that did not air Jimmy Kimmel, they're going to probably decide that's not a great idea and put him back on the air on those many different networks.

CORNISH: You know, Kimmel explicitly took time out to try and correct the record on his comments, right? He had been flip, kind of linking the shooter to what he originally had called -- referred to as "the MAGA gang." So, how do you think he handled that particular moment, kind of addressing the people he offended?

DOMINICK: Absolutely pitch perfect. Absolutely. Jimmy is such a good guy. Everybody who knows Jimmy knows that. I mean, after my appearance on CNN with your colleague Boris Sanchez got a lot of attention because we had a bit of a row. Boris is a great guy. We had a great conversation, but we didn't see things exactly eye to eye on that. That video made it to Jimmy, and Jimmy messaged me. And I don't even know him. I know writers on the show. But he's really a great guy to comedians and -- and treats people well.

And so I -- I think you saw that come out when he had that very authentic moment. He's a very emotional guy. He's often gotten very emotional on his show. And I think he meant exactly what he said. And if people don't believe him, then they're lying to themselves because I thought it was a very authentic and important moment.

CORNISH: Kimmel also, obviously, still made jokes. He made jokes at the expense of the -- of the president, of the FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.

I want to play something for you that the chairman said yesterday while in New York at a summit, and he was asked about what was going on in the states with Kimmel. And here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENDAN CARR, FCC CHAIRMAN: Instead of doing the court jester role, they became court clerics, where they were enforcing a very narrow sort of partisan view. And that's not for me ultimately to judge, that's for the ratings and the audience to judge. And that's -- that's what we're seeing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, he's saying two things there. One, that there is an audience that can respond, right? There can be backlash when you say things. But I also wanted you to address this argument that people in late night, people like Kimmel, who has been very sort of moral in the way he talks about issues of the day, that they are the ones who are kind of pushing an ideology on the public.

DOMINICK: I mean, Jimmy Kimmel is, first and foremost, a comedian. He gets laugh -- all these guys are. But comedians speak truth to power. And we're on kind of the front lines of speech. If you don't like what he has to say, you can change the channel. But this idea that Jimmy Kimmel's ratings were suffering, or that he's not funny, it's just -- the people saying that sound ridiculous.

There's a lot of comedians who I don't like and who don't make me laugh, but I would never say they're not funny if they're filling up comedy clubs, arenas, and they're the host of a network show. Jimmy Kimmel's show is very popular. Millions of people watch it. Millions more on clips. The guy is hilarious. And often he's saying important things with the comedy.

I mean last night he even went after Brendan Carr, which was very funny, when he said he's the most embarrassing car since the Tesla truck. I mean, the -- we don't -- we don't cower to threats of small people when we make a living doing what we do. Because if we did, we wouldn't be able to have a very successful career.

So, I think it's really important that people realize that even if you don't like what someone's saying, and even if you don't think they're funny, it doesn't mean they're not funny to a lot more of us and that they don't appeal to mass audiences, which Jimmy has for over 20 years, Audie.

CORNISH: Pete, what do you respond to people who say, look, it was Disney's decision to take him off air.

DOMINICK: No.

CORNISH: It was Nexstar's decision. Sinclair's decision. And it was Disney's decision to bring him back, which they did.

[06:40:01]

And that that is a sign that, overall, the system is working.

DOMINICK: I say to anybody who thinks that, you've been duped. You've been absolutely duped. You just haven't been paying attention.

But journalists know this. Anybody who covered the campaign. Anybody who realized and read what Project 2025 was, they were explicit, Audie. As you know, Brendan Carr wrote the part in the FCC. Disney did not take off Jimmy Kimmel because of ratings or any other reason that they're saying. They took them off because they were jawboned by the president of the United States, by the federal government canceling actually a show's speech. That's why they did this.

And I think it's important that people realize it's -- and Jimmy would be the first to say, he is not the only person who got canceled. A lot of people we all know, principals of schools, teachers, board members, anybody who has said something that was an affront to others about the assassination, horrible assassination of Charlie Kirk, a lot of those people lost their jobs and they're not getting their jobs back. And I think it's really important that people realize the history of what has been said, what has been on the record about what they want to do with the FCC. They want to use the FCC in unethical, I would argue, illegal and partizan ways --

CORNISH: Yes.

DOMINICK: To get rid of the speech they don't like and to promote the speech they do like. And you know who does that really well? Russia, Iran, China. I don't think Americans want to live in that country. CORNISH: Pete, help me out on the cultural part of this within the

world of comedy. What I remember the last couple of years is that comedians led the charge on cancel culture is bad, everything is too woke, the liberals are out of control. It was very much, you can't be funny anymore kind of concerns. And now you are having someone say, look, you guys were right, the left was wrong, they shouldn't be doing all of these things. Is there going to be a shift in the comedy community now after these years of saying, look, the right had a point?

DOMINICK: No. No. And I don't think that the right did have a point. I mean I think that there's so many of us out here that are not considered right wing comedians, that never bought all of that cancel culture stuff. And by the way, find me someone who has actually been canceled. Find me a comedian who's been canceled. Louis C.K., he's -- he's doing great. He's on the most popular shows. He's selling tickets all over the country. So, you're not going to really find a comedian that has actually been canceled that way. It was always a trope.

But right now comedians overwhelmingly are on the same page. Joe Rogan came out yesterday, thought it was ridiculous that they did this to his old friend Jimmy Kimmel, and even said, you know, Trump can't cancel Kimmel. And now he --

CORNISH: Yes, Pete, I actually have that. I wasn't sure if we should play it, but let's hear Joe Rogan himself in his own words.

DOMINICK: Sure. Please.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE ROGAN, HOST, "THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE": First of all, I definitely don't think that the government should be involved ever in dictating what a comedian can or cannot say in a monologue. That's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's crazy.

ROGAN: Now, if the -- the problem is, the companies, if they're being pressured by the government, so, if that's real, and if people on the right are like, yes, go get them, oh my God, you're crazy. You're crazy for supporting this, because this will be used on you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Can you talk about that moment? I thought that was very interesting to see someone like him talking about this, especially given his audience.

DOMINICK: It was the least shocking thing I saw because almost every comedian, including those that are -- firmly land on the right, said the exact same thing. Joe happens to be one of the most influential. I've known Joe my whole career. And I was not surprised at all that he said that, because it's exactly right. And even Ted Cruz said the same thing. Like, if -- if Democrats ever get in power again, they could potentially do the same thing to Republicans. They -- they wouldn't do that, I don't think, because that would be outrageous.

But he said it in plain truth, the FCC did this. They jawboned this. These companies wanted a merger to go through. Disney wanted the merger go through. They saw how much money they were losing. And it looks like boycotts have a lot of strength in America, which sometimes I'm not sure about, but -- just, I have to say, Audie, if you can find a comedian out there, a well-known, respected comedian that would say that they agreed with Jimmy Kimmel being canceled, I would be shocked because we -- none of us want that. We all want to make the jokes that we make. We live to ridicule, to mock. This is what we do. Every culture needs comedians.

You know, Vladimir Putin, when he first took power, one of the first things he did is get rid of the comedians who were making fun of him. So, there's a long history of this. And we do not want it in our country. So, comedians are overwhelmingly standing together.

CORNISH: All right. Well, I want to end on this, which is what Kimmel had to say about free speech and also to thank you, Pete, because I know you've been out there talking about this for a long time. This conversation is not going to end. It's got a lot of people fired up. Thank you for your time.

[06:45:01]

And here's Jimmy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.

I mean I've had the opportunity to meet and spend time with comedians and talk show hosts from countries like Russia, countries in the Middle East, who tell me they would get thrown in prison for making fun of those in power, and worse than being thrown in prison. They know how lucky we are here. Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And if you want to hear more about this and from Pete, because I love to shout out a podcast, he's got the "Stand Up with Pete Dominick" podcast.

Pete, thank you.

DOMINICK: Thank you so much for having me, Audie. Appreciate it.

CORNISH: Next on CNN THIS MORNING, should President Trump's immigration crackdown be a model for the world? Well, he thinks so. I'm going to talk to a House Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): People like Dan Bongino, high profile people where their channel was taken from them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: They were banned back in 2020. But now YouTube is allowing creators who spread misinformation about Covid and the election back on their platform.

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[06:50:44]

CORNISH: President Trump is fresh off his speech to the U.N. General Assembly. His message to the world, I was right about everything. His day started with a malfunctioning escalator, which the U.N. blamed on a faulty safety switch. But once he got to the stage, he spoke for more than an hour, calling climate change a green con job, and he touted his immigration crackdown as a model for the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the United States, we reject the idea that mass numbers of people from foreign lands can be permitted to travel halfway around the world, trample our borders, violate our sovereignty, cause unmitigated crime, and deplete our social safety net. It's time to end the failed experiment of open borders. You have to end it now. It's -- I can tell you. I'm really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right, we have somebody who was at those U.N. meetings yesterday. Congressman Jonathan Jackson. He joins the group chat. He's a Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, thank you so much for joining us.

REP. JONATHAN JACKSON (D-IL): How are you?

CORNISH: Good.

JACKSON: Honored to be here.

CORNISH: So, thank you for being here.

So, obviously, as a Democrat, I know you're going to have some criticisms. But as somebody who is on the Foreign Relations Committee, how do you think these -- these comments were received? What were you hearing.?

JACKSON: The comments were received very poorly by diplomats in all circles. You have to follow up from April 2nd, when he promised a day of liberation to the American people and told the rest -- the rest of the world, you'll have the opportunity to come and kiss me all over. And I'm paraphrasing that. Which was highly insulting. So, this is really the first time that many of these heads of states have been able to see him in person. And so, eight years ago it was like laughter and slight applause, ,OK, this is a joke.

CORNISH: They laughed in his face. And I have to say --

JACKSON: Yes.

CORNISH: He came back, and they weren't laughing this time.

JACKSON: No, because --

CORNISH: This was a moment for them. A kind of reckoning.

JACKSON: Well, on that day also of April 2nd, coming forward, he told 95.5 percent of the world that you can come give me a kiss. And now we're only 18 percent of the world's economy. He told 82 percent of the world, trade amongst yourselves. He told 95.5 percent of the world that you all should have new relations. And now you see India, China, Russia forming alliances, you see new alliances that are being formed because of the fracture of him alienating our allies.

CORNISH: I also want to ask you about something he said about Ukraine, because there's been somewhat of a shift there, at least for the moment. But I bring it up because Zelenskyy himself has come out and said, we welcome this moment. We did not want to hear about territorial land swaps. Welcome, Trump, to the conversation. How do you see this moment?

JACKSON: Well, it's what everyone else knew. If there wasn't such a level of arrogance and hubris where he would isolate people. What he needs truly is some diversity within his cabinet. He needs to have some people that have other opinions, aren't just yes men and yes women around him. He needs to have farmers in there. He needs to have labor leaders. He needs to have some academicians (ph) that can help guide this policy. This is all -- I call it, let's make a deal presidency. It's very shortsighted. His speech was a harsh rebuke of the international order of the United Nations that we helped create as a country. It's its 80th anniversary. As opposed to him having an overarching speech that unifies, that says there's a vision for the future. It's very transactional. It's very demeaning. And he went so far to question whether or not the United Nations has a place in the future.

CORNISH: Well, does it is?

JACKSON: Of course it does.

CORNISH: Is it useful? There are plenty of people who look at the U.N. and find that it's been inefficient in many places, ineffective in many places, made things worse in some scenarios. I mean is this a moment for them?

JACKSON: It's absolutely even more critical today. If you think about it, the United States, although it's a host nation, it's in Geneva, it's in New York City, it's been underfunding the United Nations. It's not been paying its dues on time. So, you can trace back to the -- something as simple as the escalator not going up to why the United States is the last ones to pay its dues. It's been very much undermining the process.

Why is it taking away some of the most effective programs of USAID and aid and food so now there's literally starvation and people are dying, when the United States used to give food. There are people that are dying where there's been medicine already shipped to the country that simply needs to be distributed, that the United States has held in a -- in a cage and has seen this food expire.

[06:55:03]

The farmers in the Midwest and the farmers in Illinois have already paid for this food. They want it to go. They're generous people. He's not reflecting even the rules -- the wishes of the farmers. And he's going to bankrupt a lot of farmers. He is stopping one of our greatest exports, agriculture. I also serve on the Agriculture Committee. Food is a critical issue around the world. Some of those countries were here looking for food, and he simply turned his back on them. That's not the spirit of the American people.

CORNISH: You sort of implied that there's a little bit of a shakedown element to this when you were talking about other countries, and this does bring me to this conversation about the FCC and this conversation about how Trump leans on organizations to get what he wants, right? That's the criticism from Democrats.

Can you talk about what you saw in Kimmel's return? I mean, there's stations in Illinois where viewers are not going to see what he said on their local stations because Nexstar, Sinclair, they have that right to pull it.

JACKSON: Yes. So, there may be two-thirds of those people who really don't understand the network and the affiliates and the owner operators, the two. But there's been too much consolidation in the media industry, in my opinion, that there should still be more local ownership where people have the access to their markets. With this massive consolidation that started in the Clinton administration, it's just simply gone and gone.

CORNISH: Yes.

JACKSON: And so it's hard to get local radio. It's hard to get local television programing. And so, with these few, if you will, oligarchs of the -- of the media industry, they have told their consumers, I don't care what you like, I am not restoring Mr. Kimmel. Well, that defies the logic and the theories of any business that the consumers ultimately will lead the market. It's not true.

So, I think there needs to be a hard look at making sure that there is local ownership of media so we can have a variety of music, a variety of programing, a variety of interests that can be brought across the country.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I mean, I think in theory that -- that's great. But you have seen this massive shift, this sort of consolidation with these big conglomerates around these networks, around local outlets as well. And so, you do see this shift. And I think Donald Trump wants to accelerate this shift of big media and big conservative media. I think that was sort of the overarching takeaway from what they were trying to do with Jimmy Kimmel.

And, unfortunately, a lot of the media outlets are sort of complying in -- in -- in doing what Donald Trump wants to do in terms of being more conservative.

CORNISH: Yes, what's your response to the Republicans who are out there saying, look, it's -- Disney brought him back. He was suspended for like five minutes. This is not fascism.

JACKSON: Oh, it's more ridiculous than that. What did he do? First, he struck terror in the hearts of many of the local media -- media companies. He's been suing the major networks. He tried to sue "The Wall Street Journal" last week. That was summarily thrown out. When most people have fought back, they've absolutely won. And what he's gone on to do now is put fear in the law firm. So, if you have a top talent, you can't get a law firm to support you because you don't want to get on Mr. Trump's bad side.

You're going to find, ultimately, his economic policies are inept. They're not going to work. And this threat and intimidation against universities, law schools, media companies, he's making sure there's fear. And now he's attacking late night comedy like, I can't stay up for late night.

CORNISH: Yes. Well, I mean, that's another whole things.

JACKSON: And see you in the morning.

CORNISH: So then let me ask you about one more thing. YouTube says it's bringing back the accounts of creators banned for violating its Covid-19 and election content policies. This could impact all kinds of people, including the FBI deputy secretary, Dan Bongino. The reason why I wanted to bring this up with you is because Alphabet actually told the committees investigating this, look, the Biden administration leaned on us for this content moderation. Are Democrats going to have to rethink those kinds of approaches?

JACKSON: Absolutely. And something that we should all be very much concerned about is misinformation. There's freedom of speech, but also, how do we stop misinformation?

CORNISH: But isn't this conversation about Kimmel kind of reflecting the fact that, as a country, we're not decided on that, right? I mean is it better for everyone to say everything? Or, as Democrats decided during the pandemic, actually, no, some of this stuff you shouldn't be saying?

JACKSON: I don't think it's decided. I think we -- it's going to evolve. You're going to see a new wave of dark media and dark web and bots and fake imageries that are coming out on elected officials. So, that lie is going to run around the world through the internet and other things before the truth can walk and finally catch up. But it will be too late.

So, we're going into an era of disinformation. Political rhetoric is going to be weaponized. People are going to be misquoted, lied about. They're going to be all sort of programs that can act like they're synthesizing --

CORNISH: Yes.

JACKSON: And recreating our messages and words. This is something we should have a conversation about.

CORNISH: And it sounds like these companies will be caught in the middle, right, to --

HENDERSON: Yes.

[07:00:01]

CORNISH: To -- to content moderate or to not content moderate.

HENDERSON: Yes, I mean, that's right.

CORNISH: Those will be the next rounds of questions.

Congressman, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate your time.

Nia-Malika, thanks to you.

And thanks to you. We've talked about a lot today. And coming up next, the headlines. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts now.